The Enforcement Directorate (ED), on Tuesday, provisionally attached properties belonging to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's brother-in-law Shridhar Madhav Patankar.
According to media reports, the ED attached movable properties worth more than ₹6 crore, including 11 residential units in 'Neelambari' project in Thane. The properties belong to a firm, Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt Ltd &, owned by Patankar, brother of Thackeray's wife Rashmi.
Rashmi Thackeray is also the editor of Shiva Sena publications such as 'Saamna' and 'Marmik'.
The agency alleged funds that were siphoned off in a money laundering case being investigated against the Pushpak group and its company Pushpak Bullion were "parked" in the real estate projects of Shree Saibaba Grihanirmiti Pvt. Ltd.
The Pushpak group was booked by the ED under the PMLA in March 2017 in a criminal case linked to demonetisation of two high value currencies.
The ED action comes even as the Shiv Sena has been accusing the BJP of misusing the central investigation agencies against opposition parties and leaders.
A few weeks ago, Sena leader Sanjay Raut called ED the "ATM" of the BJP and said a few officers of the agency are being probed by Mumbai Police. "Mark my words, some ED officials will go to jail," he had said. "The maximum activities of the ED and the Income Tax Department are in Maharashtra and West Bengal," Raut had claimed.
Maharashtra cabinet minister Aditya Thackeray too had slammed the central investigating agencies, calling them "publicity machinery" of the saffron party.
-With PTI inputs